Life is Great

The Delicious Appreciations of Pick Yin

Not exactly predictable.
Has enough brains for codes
(but can be completely clueless on other more important matters).
Likes her Joe (and her man?) black, her chocolate dark and her food spicy.
“Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.” — Seneca

Total Posts   191      Last Updated   23 November 2015 12:00 PM (GMT +8)

Tuesday, August 28, 2012


Banana Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes



Banana Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes


When the economics in the kitchen are in balance, things just fall into place. A couple of black, sombre-looking, overripe bananas hanging from the pot rack. Two tubs of leftover frosting in the freezer, almost forgotten but luckily discovered. An upcoming celebration that calls for turning on the oven, even in this 35 degrees furnace of an island.

Banana Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes


When it's this hot, things happen quickly. Back from work, changed into shorts and the thinnest sleeveless top possible, liners pop into the muffin pan. Buttermilk gets shaken into the blender with the bananas, to be blitzed into something that looked almost better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Almost.

While the other half is out hunting and gathering, I maintain my territory in the kitchen. Flour, sugar and enough of some very good cocoa into a bowl. The same bowl takes in the banana buttermilk slurry, some oil, an egg, a dash of vanilla and a short burst of no-one-is-looking dance while whisking.

Banana Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Banana Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes


Pour, drip, lick, bake.

Twenty minutes later the kitchen smells like heaven and my minimal soiled dishes gets cleared in a jiffy. The other half asks if yellow ginger is also turmeric. I laugh, wipe down the counter and inhale the cooling cupcakes. The night will be left for him to sort out his own kitchen economics. While I, all done for the day, step into the shower, looking forward to tune to a certain sappy doctor drama and start counting down to my festive day.

Banana Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes


Morning comes, I dress the cakes with roses and some fleur de sel, while he sweat it out in the kitchen, knee deep in spices, vegetables and a packet he refuse to open less I take a peak. It's obvious his economics are somewhat in tenterhooks but I try to let him be. I won't lie. It's difficult to watch the battle unfold. But as with previous years, he always come out a champion.

Another year, this time with a candle. We shared a cupcake after a lunch of spicy lamb peratal, his mother's recipe, with love.

Then I quietly count my blessings.
Banana Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Cake recipe adapted from this cake, where you will also find the recipes for both the salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream and chocolate fudge frosting, first seen in Rosie Alyea's original cake post.
Yield: 12 standard cupcakes

Note: I've scaled down the recipe to make only 12 cupcakes, you may double or triple it accordingly. To keep things simple, I iced the cupcakes separately with the different frostings from my leftovers. You can, of course, do the whole dig-a-hole-in-each-cupcake thing with one frosting and ice with the other, so that all three flavors can explode in your mouth at one go.

  • 105 grams all-purpose flour
  • 150 grams castor sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 50 grams unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 50 millilitres vegetable oil
  • 100 millilitres buttermilk
  • 130 grams banana puree
  • 1 egg
  • 80 millilitres hot coffee (I used instant espresso)
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Line a standard muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners. In large bowl, sift in all the dry ingredients. Add all remaining ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix well with a heavy hand whisk for about 2 minutes. Pour into prepared tin (batter will be quite liquid). (I pour till just about 1/2 cm from the top.) Bake for about 20 minutes. Cake is done when toothpick or skewer comes out barely clean (a bit of crumbs will be just nice). Refrain from overbaking. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Do ahead: Cupcakes keep at room temperature overnight or in the fridge for up to 3 days. I thaw both my leftover frostings overnight on the counter and whip them with a whisk till fluffy before using.



Related Posts:


Salted Caramel Chocolate Fudge Cake

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream Cake with Ganache Drizzle

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Everyday Chocolate Cake

posted by PickYin @ 8/28/2012 11:30:00 AM

18 Comments on Banana Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

If only I had one of your long thin candles, our stacked lamington would have been sky high!

One could not tell that Vijay was fighting some battle making the lamb peratal just from tasting! It was awesome!

Happy belated birthday, once again!

Posted by Anonymous Mrs Ergül, at Aug 28, 2012, 11:46:00 AM  

That is the bomb diggity! What a lovely way to spend the day (:

Posted by Blogger Bake, anything, at Aug 28, 2012, 11:56:00 AM  

Happy birthday!

These look just as delicious as they sounded on Twitter!

Posted by Blogger Kaitlin, at Aug 28, 2012, 12:47:00 PM  

Believe me I am drooling over those pictures you posted. Amazing!!!!!!!

Posted by Anonymous Minnie(@thelady8home), at Aug 29, 2012, 12:09:00 AM  

happy birthday! lovely cupcakes! hope you had a splendid day.

Sapp

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous, at Aug 29, 2012, 8:11:00 AM  

Oh wow, these look fab! Love the two different frostings and anything with chocolate and banana gets my vote :-)

Posted by Anonymous thelittleloaf, at Aug 29, 2012, 4:19:00 PM  

happy birthday and oh oh these are just really lovely gorgeous cupcakes! may i just ask what salt u use to garnish the cupcakes with? i've yet to try the salt on sweet combo (but ive always wanted to!) and also, what piping tip you use? i need to practice piping pronto! :D

Posted by Blogger Michelle, at Aug 30, 2012, 10:43:00 AM  

Mrs Ergül: Thanks dear! You can find the candles at Canele (quite pricey though, SGD4+ for 5 sticks). I will give you some!

Denise: We need to arrange our baking schedule ASAP.

Kaitlin: Thank you! Sometimes simple bakes are the best.

Thanks Minnie, Sapp, thelittleloaf!

Michelle: I used fleur de sel in this case, like in this cake. But I must warn you it melts after a few hours, even if put into the fridge. I think it is better to use sea salt flakes, but I ran out of it.

For the piping, I've experimented with this and this. I prefer the latter, which I used for these cupcakes - the petals droop and swirl better. I used the former in this cake, then I lost the tip!


Posted by Blogger PickYin, at Aug 30, 2012, 11:06:00 AM  

Amazing pictures you have and the frosting was beautifully piped. These cupcakes looks divine!

Posted by Anonymous Valynn @ Vanillyn, at Aug 30, 2012, 11:54:00 AM  

Happy Birthday Your cupcakes look great! where did you get the mini cupcake stand

Posted by Anonymous tracy, at Aug 30, 2012, 1:28:00 PM  

Love it! 'Pour, drip, lick, bake' - gorgeous looking cakes :-)

Posted by Anonymous lina_to_u, at Sep 1, 2012, 6:00:00 AM  

good post, added you to my RSS reader.

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous, at Sep 18, 2012, 10:48:00 AM  

I don't seem 2 b having any luck with this recipe. Tried it twice n both times the cake didn't turn out well. Did I miss out something? The center of the cake took a long time to cook. Help

Posted by Anonymous Cat U, at Sep 28, 2012, 2:29:00 PM  

Cat U: If your oven is at the right temperature (check using an oven thermometer), then it should be no problem. Otherwise, try using only about 110 grams of puree and for this recipe and see if the situation improves.

Posted by Blogger PickYin, at Oct 2, 2012, 3:55:00 PM  

Thanks will give the oven a look n give yr suggestion a try. Hope they turn out as nice as yours:) love yr blog. The pics r great n of cse the food too. Cheers!

Posted by Anonymous Cat U, at Oct 11, 2012, 12:59:00 PM  

Hi how much are yr cupcakes?

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous, at Jun 5, 2013, 7:19:00 PM  

I just made these cupcakes and they are amazing! taste so good!

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous, at Apr 21, 2015, 12:39:00 PM  

The cupcakes are absolutely delicious - I'm sure the leftovers will soon be devoured! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!

Posted by Blogger Unknown, at May 15, 2015, 3:44:00 PM  


Post a Comment